Fuel-feeding apparatus.



0. D. STEVENS. FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED, 0019, 1906.

Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

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CLIFTON n. STEVENS, or MUsKEG'ou, MICHIGAN.

FUEL-FEEDING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb.17,1914.

Original application filed November 24, 1905, Serial No. 288,945. Divided and this application filed October To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFTON D; STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Muskegon, in the county of Muskegon' and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-Feeding Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This apparatus is particularly adapted,

though not necessarily limited in its use, to the refuse burner shown and described and claimed in my application Serial No. 288,945, filed in the United States Patent Office 'November 24, 1905, and of which application the present application is a division.

Heretofore, in the construction of an ap-' paratus of this character, the fuel or the material to be incinerated, has usually been elevated by an endless carrier into a hopper, from which it is delivered into the furnace and upon the grate thereof, by means of a chute which latter passes through the feed walls. I

To overcome these objections, and to support the hopper and chute independently and out of contact with the furnace walls, is the primary object of this invention.

A further object is to provide improved means for disintegrating the material'as it passes from the chute to prevent the same from falling in a solid mass on to thefire, which would tend to extinguish the same.

A still further object is to construct an improved apparatus of this character, which will be simple and strong in construction, cheap to manufacture, and efficient in operation.

With a view to the attainment of these ends, and the accomplishment of other new and useful objects, as will appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty, in the construction, combination and arrangement of the various parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawing, illustrating an exemplification of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged detail view of the feeding hopper, chute, and the upper end of the carrier, with a portion of the furnace ad- Serial No. 338,165.

jacent the feed opening in section, and showing the support for the hopper and chute. Fig, 2 is a front elevation of the carrier or elevator, and the feed opening. F ig. 3 is a sectional top plan view of the spray pipe for disintegrating the material.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numerals l0 and 11 designate, respectively, the outer and inner plates or walls of the water jacket, constituting the furnace proper, having the feed opening 12. The walls of the furnace 10 and 11 may be spaced and braced in any suitable manner, to form a water space, such as by means of brace bars or ribs 13. The construction of this furnace forms the subject-matter of a separate application. I

The numeral 14: designates a hopper, which is provided with sockets 15 .upon its lower face; and 16 are upright standards or supports of any suitable material, preferably angular in cross-section, arranged adjacent the outer Walls of the furnace, and with their extremities in sockets 15. These standards may be held spaced and braced in any desirable manner, and are of such a height as to support the hopper 14 above the base and free from the sides of the'feed-opening 12.

Secured to the hopper 14, preferably by means of bolts or nuts 17, is an inclined trough or'way 18, the free end of which may be engaged or be secured to any suitable object, and said trough or way may serve as an additional support and brace for the hopper.

J ournaled in'suitable brackets 19, which project or extend into the hopper 14:, is a sprocket wheel 20, any number of which may be employed; and 21 designates the endless carrier or elevator of any desired construction which is adapted to travel in the trough or way 18 to which the brackets 19 are preferably secured and around these sprockets Secured to the upper end of the chute 22, m any desired manner, is the plate or extension 23, which.is adapted to be suitably adjusted against the endless carrier or ele-- vator 21, to keep the same clean by remov ing therefrom any of the material which may adhere thereto, and the end 24. of this plate or extension is preferably curved or rounded to prevent the extremity of the end from being engaged by the link of the carrier and to permit the carrier 21 to easily move therefrom. A pipe 25 is arranged adjacent the wall of the furnace preferably on the outside thereof, the upper end of which passes through the wall directly below the feed opening 12, and terminates at a, point beneath the chute 22, and approximately in a direct line with the lower edge thereof. Secured to the end of the pipe '25 and within the furnace, is a transverse pipe or nozzle 26 which extends for some distance beyond the sides of the pipe 25, and is provided with a plurality of radial jet openings 2? in the front side thereof, and through which steam or any other suitable fiuid is adapted to be forced against the material just as it leaves the ehute22 for disintegrating the same before .it falls on to the tire. Fluid may be supplied to the pipe 25 from any suitable source.

From the above description, it is thought that the operation of this improved appara tus will be fully understood, and it Will be.

clearly seen that the walls of the furnace are entirely free from the continuous jar of the hopper and chute caused by the motion of the carrier and the falling of the material, as both the hopper and chute are supported out of contact with the walls of the furnace, yet the chute extends through the opening and into the furnace.

In order that the invention might be fully understood, the details of an embodiment thereof have been thus specifically de scribed, but what I claim is The combination with a furnace having a feed opening, a chute passing through the feed opening for some distance beyond the wall of the furnace and out of contact with the walls of the opening, a fluid supply pipe, and a nozzle carried by the end of the pipe, said nozzle projecting laterally from the sides of the pipe and being disposed adja cent to and parallelwith the edge of the chute and provided with a plurality of jet orifices, said nozzle being spaced from and protected by the edge of the chute and serving to disintegrate the material it leaves the chute and at a point above the fire bed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 4th day of October A. D. 1906.

CLIFTON D. STEVENS.

Witnesses M. H. POWELL, W. G. POWELL. 

